In the opera, Hans Sachs proposes that instead of the critics the audience should be allowed to choose the best Mastersinger. This is in tune with Wagner's opinion of critics as irrelevant; what was relevant was how art would serve the community. Beckmesser was a caricature of a one-sided narrow-minded critic, who imitated the old traditional style, but proved himself to be ridiculously helpless. The model for Beckmesser was Eduard Hanslick, the critic of the Viennese newspaper Neue Freie Presse. In fact, the name of the character was Hanslich in the draft libretto of 1861, and only later did Wagner change the name to Beckmesser. Dieter Borchmeyer suggests that the character also resembles the comic figure of the "dottore" in the traditional commedia dell'arte. When Wagner wrote the first sketches for The Mastersingers in 1858, Hanslick had had a positive attitude, among other things, towards the Tannhäuser overture; but later Hanslick became a vociferous anti-Wagnerian. Even though the character of Beckmesser in the final opera is in the traditional style of comedy, it clearly symbolizes an attack on the institution of the critics.

The most significant feature in The Mastersingers was its ardent patriotism, which was likely to appeal to a German audience. Carl Dahlhaus has stressed that 1868 was a turning-point for Wagner on the road to fame; The Mastersingers proved to be a great success, and achieved national popularity. It was a corner stone from which Wagner was to spread his entire production to the public. As is stated in the 1878 edition of The Meyer Encyclopedia: "The latter work (Mastersingers) was soon performed in all major German theatres, and Wagner gained more popularity than ever."

The Mastersingers spread throughout Germany after its Munich premiere, and was performed at many opera houses on the eve of the Franco-Prussian War. The words "falsche wälsche Majestät" sung by Hans Sachs seemed to refer to the decadent influence of French civilization, against which the Germans needed to be ready to fight. France was often referred to using the words "der wälsche Erbfeind". Thus Wagner's opera was of immediate contemporary significance.

The journal Signale für die musikalische Welt stated in its 1869 annual review "Das musikalische Jahr 1869":

Richard Wagner is quite simply the sole living German composer whose works for the stage, despite all the aesthetic protests and personal attacks, despite all the pamphlets and articles in the press, are steadily gaining ground and demonstrating their capacity to hold it - since their creator is a genius whose qualifications cannot be denied, and whose eminent artistic power and consistency have to be acknowledged, whether with criticism or with sympathy.

The journal records one of the most significant events of the German opera world in 1869 as the unprecedented triumph of The Mastersingers. The Munich premiere resulted in a series of numerous performances soon after the turn of the year: the opera was performed in Dresden on 21st January, in Dessau on 29th January, in Karlsruhe on 5th February, in Mannheim on 5th March, and in Weimar on 28th November. Everywhere, the reception was enthusiastic and even enraptured. In the Signale review of the Karlsruhe performance, Wagner was lauded as an indisputable genius, and the work itself was classified as a German national opera which expressed the sovereignty of the German spirit.

The triumph of The Mastersingers reached even greater heights in 1870. During February, it was performed both in Vienna and in Hanover; in March in Königsberg, in April in Berlin, and in December in Leipzig. In addition, The Mastersingers continued to be part of the Dresden, Karlsruhe, Munich, and Weimar repertoires. Wagner's other operas now also spread on the waves created by The Mastersingers throughout Germany: Tannhäuser, The Flying Dutchman, and even Rienzi were performed in numerous German opera houses.

A milestone, from Wagner's point of view, was, of course, the Berlin performance. The capital of Prussia was regarded as conservative and tradition-bound: a newcomer was always treated with exceptional criticism. Only a few months before the nation's rise to arms, The Mastersingers seemed to offer a feeling of nationalism which was acknowledged even in Berlin. It is no wonder the work was received with "great excitement" and "with glamorous success".